Several healthcare giants are planning to set up facilities all over north India in the next 12 to 15 months, with a total projected investment of more than Rs 900 crore. This includes building of new hospitals as well as expansion of existing ones.

Leading the pack is the Wockhardt group, which plans to expand its base to about 30 hospitals in the next seven years. A close second is the Rs 500 crore Apollo Hospital group, which has nine self-built hospitals and manages 14 hospitals throughout the country.

It has proposed pushing up the figure by building two more new hospitals and managing 28 hospitals in the coming two years. The group is also planning to create a nationwide network of secondary care hospitals called 'First Med hospitals' and establish 50 such hospitals by the end of 2003.

But as the likes of Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare, Wockhardt and other big players in the field draw up plans for setting up base in the north, experts fear whether the move would in fact have an irrational bearing on the future investments in several other regions of the country, which till now have been accommodating a large section of the population from these northern areas.

"This will directly result in enhancement of availability of health care for the people in general but, the cost of care will still be an unanswered concern since all of these will be primarily corporate hospitals," presumes the assistant medical director of a leading hospital in the city.

According to the official, with the opening up of medical insurance and presumed access to cashless services, the affordability for common man might improve as they are usually never satisfied with the available govt/municipal setups, and are always desirous of seeking private care.

Brigadier Joe Curian, CEO of S L Raheja Hospital has similar thoughts for the proposed plans. Says he, "Investments for tertiary care in the north was badly wanted for quite some time now. Even class B patients from these areas used to frequent to hospitals outside their territory. It was the case with doctors and medical professionals who at times had to spend from their own kitty for treatment and procedure. But all that might soon change in the future." According to him, though initially it might not receive an enthusiastic response, it might catch on with the people at a later established stage.

Asked on the impact of these projects on the future investments in the city, Brigadier Curian shrugged the downside and sounded rather optimistic. "Till now, the influx of patients coming from the outside to the city contributed to about 5-6 percent of the total revenue for hospitals. So not much might be lost considering the other avenues that were available for revenue generation. Moreover, post 9/11 events; many Arabic countries are now shifting focus from their western counterparts to avail of treatment from countries in Asia. India is definitely one of them, considering the optimum treatment facilities and the downright finance options that are available", he cited.

According to him, the influx of foreign patients, especially from the Arab countries has risen considerably in the past two years and is now hovering around 5 per cent. Given that all hospitals are now in the race for providing efficient and quality medical services and with newer interventions and technology making inroads, existing hospitals in the city would continue to make business as usual without much effect on its investments.

Similarly feels the assistant medical director who cites, "Just because these newer centres are available that doesn't mean that the people will throng to them. They will have to prove their worth only then will their utilization pick up." According to the official, a marginal dent in utilization will definitely be there but those who have capacity to afford will still prefer to avail treatment from well-established centres and established names. "Health seeking behaviour patterns of people shall determine their utilization for which cleverly crafted marketing and promotional strategies shall be required", cites the official.

Detailed below is a comprehensive list of the proposed hospital project plans: